Autobiographical time

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“Autobiographical time, the time of the autobiographical process, emerges in a continuous synthesis of various times and time orders” (Brockmeier, 2000, p. 56).

Chronological time, the time that humans record through clocks and calendars, is the time that most humans are already used to discussing. However, because chronological time only consists of what has passed and what has not, the linear course of time is not a useful measurement outside of the scientific field which prizes quantifiable precision and accuracy over quality. The more applicable measurement of time for the human life is autobiographical time. Construction of the autobiographical narrative follows “the temporal structure of human life itself, which is essentially a multi-layered and many-centered fabric of different orders of time,” as both the autobiographical narrative and human life depend on the classical time modalities revolving around the self—the past, present, and future—as well as narrative time modalities defined by cultures (Brockmeier, 2000, p. 56). As a synthesis of time modes, autobiographical time is chronological time trimmed down and rearranged to explain the present self. Autobiographical time thus changes for the situation; it varies based on the individual’s current mindset and how that is affected by their past and future, but also by who they are retelling their autobiographical narrative to and in what context. In this sense, Von Uexküll’s observation that “there is not one space and time only… but as many spaces and times as there are subjects” holds true in that autobiographical time is different for every person since the same moment experienced by two different people would have two different personal significances (May, 1958, p. 59). However, his observation does not cover the full extent of how many space and times there are, for each subject can have multiple autobiographical times depending on the purpose (to whom, for what) of their retelling. Time, in fact, seems to be all that the autobiographical process revolves around, as “time, lived and experienced time, plays a major role in both natural and literary life accounts, be it as an organizing principle of narrative experience, or as an explicit subject or theme” (Brockmeier, 2000, p. 55). Reorganization of the chronological events to fit what the individual deems significant during the life process thus produces autobiographical time.